ENG 395, English Internship
Fall, 2001
TTH 2:10 - 3:25
Instructor: Harvey Kail
Office: 407 Neville Hall
Office Hours: 10:00 - 11:00 TTH and by appointment
Phone: 581-3829
Email: First Class
Course Goals
There are two goals for ENG 395. The first involves improvement in your own writing through improvement in the writing of your classmates. The second goal, inextricably linked to the first, is to prepare you to become a peer writing tutor in the University of Maine writing center.
Course Organization
The course will be divided into two phases, though the first will continue throughout the second. In the first phase, we will learn among ourselves a process of writing, peer criticism, and revision. In the second phase (beginning sometime around mid-October), we will add an internship experience, tutoring students in the Writing Center. Throughout the second phase, we will continue to work as a group, writing about tutoring and writing about each other's writing.
Phase One--Writing and Writing About Writing. In this initial phase, we will practice writing argumentative essays, essays that forward a proposition and support and develop that proposition. In the course of the semester we will write four to five of these brief (three to four page) but complete argumentative essays, learning a variety of formats for organizing them, including the following:
Proposition and two reasons. You introduce a proposition or thesis and support it with two reasons.
Strawman. You introduce a proposition; then you explain the argument against your proposition. This "counter-argument" is then refuted by a"counter-counter" argument that explains the shortcomings of the argument against your proposition, thus leaving your proposition free of opposition.
Concession. You introduce a proposition and then explain the argument against it. You concede the validity of this point of view, but you go on to supply an argument that is even more significant and persuasive than the "counter argument."
Strawman and one. In this form, you introduce a proposition and explain the counter-argument, which you then refute, as in the strawman. Once you have eliminated the argument against your proposition, you go on to provide one reason in support of it.
These structured essays are designed to help you learn both invention and organization, two crucial elements of argumentative writing.
In addition to writing original argument papers, we will also write peer critiques of each other's essays. These critiques will focus on developing your analytical skills as well as your tact and diplomacy. The critiques will focus on five areas of concern:
· Unity--arguing one thing at a time
· Coherence--providing appropriate transitions
· Development--answering the questions that the argument raises
· Mechanics--grammar, punctuation, spelling, citation formats
· Style--diction, phrasing, rhythm, clarity, conciseness
Phase Two: An Internship in the Writing Center
Once you have become familiar and competent with the peer critiquing process, you will begin tutoring two hours a week in the writing center. To prepare you for this phase of the course, I will expect you to take one of your papers to the writing center and experience a tutorial yourself and to analyze that session as part of our class. We will also prepare for the internship phase of the course by doing some role playing with the current peer writing tutors, by "shadowing" a tutorial conducted by one of the tutors, and by familiarizing yourself with the simple but essential procedures and policies of the writing center. Your last argument paper must be based on your experiences as an intern tutoring in the center.
WHAT I WILL EXPECT FROM YOU
1. Completion when the assignments are due of four to five papers and the peer critiques and author responses that are part of the peer tutoring process.
2. Careful and serious treatment of every piece of writing you deal with.
3. Attendance at every class.
4. Two hours a week of tutoring in the Writing Center during the internship phase.
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM ME
1. That I will teach you something about writing and teaching worth knowing.
2. Fair and timely grading and the opportunity for you to discuss that grading with me in an open, non-defensive atmosphere.
3. Encouragement and praise for work well done; clear and timely criticism when you are not fulfilling the expectations for the course or the writing center.
GRADES
Your grades in this course will be determined for the most part by your written work, both as author and as critic, by your participation in class, which is absolutely vital to the success of our work, and by your demeanor in the writing center--reliability, punctuality, engagement with other tutors and students.
TEXTS
1. A Short Course in Writing, 4th edition, by Kenneth A. Bruffee
2. A hardbound dictionary.
3. A handbook of English language. If you don't already own one, I recommend the Writer's Reference, 4th edition, by Diane Hacker.